


Piggyback

by MeowHime



Series: Rintori Oneshots [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Free! - Freeform, Free! Eternal Summer, M/M, Prompt Fill, Rintori Prompt, nitorin - Freeform, prompt, rintori - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-19 15:24:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20211994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeowHime/pseuds/MeowHime
Summary: Usually, if Rin stays after practice to get some extra laps in, Nitori will stay and time him, but one day Rin tells him to go on ahead without him and he’ll be there in a bit. Except he loses track of time, and when he finally gets out of the pool and showers, he notices Nitori dozed off on a bench waiting for him. Tsundere piggyback ride ensues.





	Piggyback

**Author's Note:**

> I recently found a few Rintori prompts that I'd love to write for, so here's the first of (I hope) many. This was from Marukaprompts on Tumblr! :D I'm also gonna try to finish my other fanfic on here :')
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

The sounds of splashing echoed around the room as the Samezuka students climbed out of the water to head towards the showers, chatting among themselves as they did. The evening swimming class had ended and Captain Mikoshiba had sent everyone off with a loud and cheery 'Well done, see you tomorrow!'. 

Ai started following everyone else, hooking his fingers around the edge of the pool to pull himself out and letting his goggles fall around his neck. Before he could leave, however, his eyes fell towards the usual lane he'd find his senpai swimming in, checking to see whether the redhead was staying late again. He smiled upon seeing that was the likely answer, as Rin was still freestyle swimming towards the other end of the pool. As he reached the end of the lane and stood upright in the water, Ai called out to him. 

"Are you practicing late again, Rin-senpai? I'll time you!" He chirped, preparing to pick up his stopwatch next to his jacket curled up on the floor. Rin's perseverance to improve his times was one of the things Ai admired the most about him, so he liked joining him to practice later than they were supposed to. Rin looked up briefly at his blue-eyed roommate before shaking his head. 

"It's fine, you go on ahead," he said, making Ai pause mid-step. "I'll be there in a bit after a few laps." He flashed Ai his trademark toothy grin before snapping his goggles around his eyes again and diving back into the water for another lap. Ai nodded gently before scooping his jacket up from the floor along with the stopwatch and exiting the same way the other students had. 

After taking a quick shower, drying his hair and changing into his normal clothes and his swimming jacket, Ai decided Rin was just going to be a few more minutes and sat himself down on one of the benches in the changing room. Everyone else was already gone and the only noises were the drip-drops of water coming from the nearby showers. 

Ai yawned; perhaps studying all of last night hadn't been a good idea, but his English really did need some extra work. He'd improved a lot since Rin had been helping him with it, he thought fondly as he closed his eyes and leant his head against one of the lockers. He was glad he'd been able to become such good friends with him (or at least Ai saw the two of them as good friends) even enough to be on a first-name basis. His heart still went all jittery whenever his senpai called him 'Ai'.

His dreamy thoughts trailed off into silence as more time passed and Ai slowly faded into sleep. 

~•~

Rin hadn't even noticed how late it was until he caught a glance at the night sky out the windows before he could dive into yet another lap. Because of the lights in the room, he hadn't realised how dark it'd gotten and ended up doing many more laps than he'd originally intended. The mentality of 'just one more lap' had really taken over him this time.

He pulled himself out of the pool, shaking the access water from his hair and tugging his goggles off of his head. Briefly, he remembered Ai had been waiting for him and he felt slightly bad for not catching up with him. The grey-haired boy was probably waiting back in their room after realising Rin wasn't going to get out of the pool anytime soon. He was probably studying round about now, though Rin thought he ought to take a break for once. Ai already put his all into his swimming that he'd end up wearing himself out by staying up late to study as well. Although, that was also one of the positive qualities about Ai that he liked: he was determined.

Rin showered quickly, eager to get back to his awaiting roommate, and then headed towards the changing room, only to notice said roommate sat on a bench, asleep with his head leaning against one of the lockers. Rin was dumbstruck for a moment; had Ai really been waiting for him this whole time and nodded off? He did feel a bit guilty for taking so long but he thought Ai at least had the sense to go back to his dorm, especially if he was tired. 

Rin sighed, drying himself off and changing into his clothes before kneeling down in front of Ai and placing a hand on his shoulder to shake him. 

"Oi—" he began before quietening down and cutting himself off. His red eyes gazed across Ai's sleeping face, taking in the slight bags under his roommate's eyes. He did look quite tired (and cute) and whilst Rin might've normally woke him up, he didn't really have the heart to this time. 

He thought for a moment—Ai wasn't really that heavy, was he? He wouldn't be that hard to just carry back to their room...

It was a little bit awkward trying to lift Ai onto his back, but after a few moments of struggling not to wake his roommate up, Rin found himself finally walking back to his dorm at what must've been around 8 o'clock at night. He'd have to be more careful next time he decided to stay late, or just reprimand Ai for actually waiting all that time for him...

Ai softly muttered something in his sleep, almost making Rin drop him out of surprise. He could feel Ai's grey hair tickling the side of his neck from the way his head was leaning atop his shoulder, and Rin realised this was probably the closest he'd gotten to Ai physically. Everyone knew (especially Ai) how grumpy he used to be, and even now that he'd opened up about things, he still wasn't a very touchy person, yet for some reason this contact was oddly okay with him; it was slightly embarrassing and it was making him flustered, but it was nice.

He was ready to continue his journey along the hallways (thank god they were empty) peacefully until he heard Ai start mumbling something again, though this time it was more coherent. 

"Rin-senpai...?" He murmured groggily and said redhead almost jumped out of his skin. Not sure whether Ai was actually awake or not, or simply just mumbling something in his sleep, he waited until the blue-eyed boy said something else. "What happened?" Ai yawned, still very much half asleep.

"You fell asleep in the locker room..." Rin quietly grumbled back. "You should've gone back to the room instead of waiting for me for so long." Ai yawned again from behind him, still resting his head on Rin's shoulder—honestly, Rin was glad he didn't seem to be fully aware of what was going on right now, though he'd probably remember tomorrow and become much more flustered about it...

"Sorry..." He said quietly, already beginning to drift off once again making Rin sigh lightly. How on earth was he going to keep Ai in check when he graduated? He didn't really like thinking about not seeing his cheerful, ever-positive roommate on a daily basis.

Eventually, Rin arrived at their shared dorm and awkwardly managed to open the door with one of his hands. The room was dark and the glowing red digits on the clock read 08:34 PM. It really was too late to just be arriving at their dorm, but at least this way Ai might get more sleep than he usually did, Rin thought, glancing over at Ai's messy desk covered in scattered notes and haphazardly placed coffee mugs. 

After eying the top bunk which Ai usually slept in, Rin decided there was no way he'd be able to stably climb the ladder and place Ai there—it would be much easier to just let him sleep on Rin's bed instead.

He gently rested Ai down, making sure he was comfortable and had his head resting on the pillow before stepping back with a contented sigh. Ai seemed to at least notice the change in environment as he shifted around slightly, and snuggled closer to the bedsheets under him with a small smile on his face—Rin's bedsheets. Rin didn't exactly blush often, but now was one of those times he couldn't help but do so. Why did Ai make him feel so weird?

He mulled over the thought, crouching down in front of the bottom bunk to look at his roommate's face closer. By now, Ai was definitely sleeping peacefully and probably wouldn't wake up again until tomorrow morning, meaning Rin was going to have to sleep in the top bunk tonight instead. He almost wanted to snuggle up next to Ai, but he couldn't imagine how he'd explain it when he woke up. 

Instead he leant his head down and lightly placed a kiss on Ai's forehead, luckily not waking him up. He didn't know why he'd wanted to do that, but he couldn't resist with such a perfect opportunity presented before him like that. His face was going red again now, and he quickly threw his swimming jacket onto his desk chair and climbed up the ladder to the second bunk, briefly inhaling the scent of the bedsheets before covering his face with them and trying to fall asleep, all the while with the same strange giddy feeling in his stomach.


End file.
